About Katharina Wincor, conductor

Austrian conductor Katharina Wincor is a force on the podium and quickly establishing an international reputation.

In the 2023–2024 season, she returns to Museumsorchester Frankfurt, Dresdner Philharmonie,Cincinnati Symphony, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Reflektor, and OFUNAM. Further orchestral debuts include WDR Sinfonieorchester, Staatsorchester Darmstadt, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Queensland Symphony, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony.

Recent highlights include guest engagements with ensembles such as Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Grazer Philharmoniker, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, and Utah Symphony. Wincor’s early experiences with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir in Vienna makes working with singers come naturally. Since leading Bernstein’s Candide at the Cincinnati Symphony’s May Festival in 2022, she has conducted a production at the Salzburger Landestheater and a children’s opera at the Salzburg Festival.

Wincor attracted international attention as Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, working with Music Director Fabio Luisi. In 2020, she was a prize-winner at the Mahler Competition in Bamberg and invited to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Ammodo masterclass with Iván Fischer, who subsequently brought her on as an assistant for several projects with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Having grown up in Upper Austria, Wincor studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Zurich University of the Arts. She has participated in masterclasses with Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, Robert Spano, and David Zinman.

About Michelle Cann, piano

Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut in 2021 with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has recently performed concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. Highlights of Cann’s 2023-24 season include appearances with the Charlotte, Hawaii, Indianapolis, Québec, Sarasota, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, and recitals in New York City, Portland, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, and Denver.

Recognized as a leading interpreter of the piano music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016. Her recording of the concerto with the New York Youth Symphony won a Grammy Award in 2023. Her acclaimed debut solo album Revival, featuring music by Price and Margaret Bonds, was released in May 2023.

Cann was the recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. Cann joined the Curtis piano faculty in 2020 as the inaugural Eleanor Sokoloff Chair in Piano Studies, and she joined the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 2023.

FRIDAY: Pre-Concert Activity Begins at 6:30 PM

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